Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe, August 11, 2001- Saturday marked the ninth and tenth stage of the Tour de la Guadeloupe. The first stage was a 100 kilometer road race, won by the local favourite, Jose Durimel, who finished 1 minute in front of the peloton. The second stage of the day, an individual time trial of 9.3 kilometers, was taken by Brit Julian Winn with a time of 12:36.

During the ninth stage, the Canadian Ross Hooker was on a breakaway when one of his pedals started to unscrew, forcing him to stop for assistance.

" Ross attacked and then it started to rain", said Martin St-Laurent. "Only one rider had joined him (who won the stage). Ross was disappointed to see that the break he had initiated successful, without him being able to benefit from it. With the many descents and the rain which fell, it was faster to be alone than in the group."

All the Canadians finished in the peloton. " We worked to help Jacob Erker - who is well placed in the Points classification - to gain the " hot spot sprint " in the 11th kilometer", explained Martin Nuckle. "Unfortunately, our efforts were useless. The hot points all are located in small villages and to arrive at these places at 60 km/h, gave us no chance."

There is no change to the general classification. Rodolfo Camacho is still leading, while the first Canadian, Josh Hall, is in 7th place (9:07, within 1:20 of 3rd place). Jacob Erker is 9th (11:55), Svein Tuft 16th (22:43), Martin Nuckle 27th (41:00), Martin St-Laurent 50th (1:05) and Ross Hooker 53rd (1:07).

Canada Cup Cross Country Series Final - Sun Peaks Resort B.C.

by Greg Flaaten

In the Elite Men's series final, Geoff Kabush (B.C. Kona/Ford Focus/FACT Canada) did his best to dispel the notion that he is prone to slow starts. He took full advantage of the four kilometer start loop that had been added to last week's National Championship course and got to work early. After starting just out of the top ten, Kabush worked his way through the early leaders to establish a 30 second lead over Andreas Hestler (B.C. Rocky Mountain/SRAM/Oakley).

Peter Wedge (NB Kona), Mathieu Toulouse (QC Ford/Devinci/Oakley) and Chad Miles (BC Roach/Evolution) followed 10 seconds behind Hestler. An early mechanical took Miles out of the race as Toulouse, the series leader, set his sights on Hestler. He trailed by about 20 seconds when a mechanical took him out of the race as well. This created a mildly interesting situation: the top three points leaders in the Canada Cup Series were all out the race early. Eric Tourville (QC Oryx-Procycle) had succumbed to a mechanical on the first lap.

Kabush continued to ride unchallenged out front with Hestler down nearly three minutes into the third of 6 laps. Rick Federau (B.C. Rocky Mountain) had settled into third another 90 seconds back while Peter Wedge and Osmond Bakker (ON GearsRacing.com) rode together 1:15 behind Federau.

Wedge got away from Bakker on the fourth lap and began to regain some time from Federau. Nearly fully recovered from the broken wrist he incurred while leading an early NORBA short-track (but still wearing a splint-cast), Wedge caught Federau at the apex of the last climb and squeezed by to lead him into the final descent. With virtually no place to pass, Federau hung onto Wedge's wheel and prepared for the sprint finish for third place. Wedge managed a 0.11 second advantage at the line.

Kabush kept the pace up throughout the day and finished over five minutes ahead of Hestler who was about a minute ahead of Wedge and Federau at the finish. Osmond Bakker finished in fifth, over 9 minutes down on Kabush. In spite of their withdrawals, Toulouse, Tourville and Miles maintain their top three positions for the overall Canada Cup series. There were 14 DNFs out of 46 starters.

Geoff Kabush: "When I'm on, I'm on. I felt very in control today. I was still upset about last weekend. It was a shorter course than I expected for Nationals and I like long courses. I was moving up (last week) and could have had a good shot at those guys. I tried to see if I could maintain the same pace as the leaders last week."

Andreas Hestler: "He (Kabush) was on fire today. I was looking for good training this weekend and I think I got that. I didn't have to dig too deep at all. My focus is still on a top five for the short track."

Mathieu Toulouse: "I was getting closer to Andreas (before the mechanical failure). It could have been a good battle. It was a rough course and that takes it's toll on both riders and bikes. I'm still happy to have won the series in spite of not finishing."

Peter Wedge: "Rick is a strong kid. He was good to let me get by before the descent. This is the first weekend where I started to feel pretty good in the technical stuff. I haven't really been able to race because of my wrist. I've just been trying to keep my legs moving while I've been injured. I should be 100% by next weekend. I just hope I can peak before all the races are done."

The Canada Cup series title was on the line today in the Elite Women's event with Marie-Helene Premont (QC Oryx) holding a slim 20 point margin over Trish Sinclair (BC Ford/Devinci) going into today's race. A win for either would have locked up the series.

The pace was fast right from the start. Marie-Helene Premont and Kiara Bisaro (BC Trek Canada) were within seconds of each other at the completion of their four kilometer start loop. As they headed into the first long climb of the day, Premont established a sizeable gap on Bisaro but quickly gave it up in the first technical section. Trish Sinclair at 50 seconds, Claire Townsend (BC Oryx Procycle) at 60 seconds and Sandra Walter (BC Speed Queens/Kappa) gave chase.

Into the second lap, Bisaro had established a 35 second gap on Premont gaining time on the technical descents and giving up some time on the climbs. It seemed as though this would set the tone for the day but Premont suffered a devastating race-ending technical problem on the second lap. This allowed Bisaro to charge ahead unchallenged. Sinclair moved into second place about two and a half minutes back. Townsend rode alone a further minute back as Eron Chorney (AB Rocky Mountain Bicycles) moved into fourth.

Bisaro extended her lead throughout the remainder of the race while Sinclair and Townsend settled into their own grooves. Bisaro was first to the line followed by Sinclair at 5:25 and Townsend at 7:19. Chorney held on for fourth at 11:06 and Ann Yew (AB Trek Bicisport) was fifth at 12:12.

To her surprise, the win for Bisaro earned her the Canada Cup series title, in spite of missing two early season races due to injury. Sinclair finishes second overall, and Premont falls from first to third.

Kiara Bisaro: "Marie-Helene had a good lead after the first climb but I caught her in the singletrack. I can ride technical so I just wanted to keep her in sight, but I've been working on hills and starts and that's starting to pay off, but it was a technical course and that's where I'm most comfortable."

Trish Sinclair: "The course was a little rougher than last weekend and it was a lot hotter. It's good to see a good up and comer . . . the more good women we have , the better we all become. This race will help me prepare for Mt. Snow next weekend. That's an important race for me."

Claire Townsend: "It was a good race for me. I was getting time splits and I was thirty seconds at one point . . . then it got dusty and I did a header. It was a good BC style course."

In the Junior Expert Men's race, Jeremy Trudel (QC Lavie Sportive), Julien Fillion (QC Intersport) and series leader Frederic Bussieres (QC Durand Sport) went to the front and set an early fast pace. Adam Coates (SK The Bike Doctor), the only threat to Bussierres' overall Canada Cup series lead, did not attend the race.

Bussieres' pace was intense and the heat took its toll on Trudel and Fillion, allowing Andrew Watson (ON The Bike Depot) to catch them and make a move on Bussieres. With pride on the line, Bussieres kept pushing and Watson ended up 0:35 behind at the finish. Trudel held on for third, back 1:30, and Fillion finished fourth at 2:22. Matt Douglas (ON Bay Cycle Racing) was fifth at 4:26.

Andrew Watson: "It was a really fast start but I wanted to pace myself. A few of the guys that went out really hard started to fade. Towards the end I was starting to gain on Frederic (Bussieres) but he wouldn't have let anybody by today. I tried but couldn't get him."

In the Junior Expert Women's field, Canada Cup series leader Anne-Marie Jobin (QC Durand Sport) set the pace for what would turn out to be one of the most closely contested events of the day. Jean-Ann McKirdy (BC Olympia Cycle and Ski) chased within reach of Jobin all day as Sophie-Anne Blanchette (QC Sobe Headshock) worked her way up from dead last on the opening lap to third place by the mid point of the race.

McKirdy closed a small gap on Jobin in the final minutes and forced a near sprint finish. In the end, Jobin held on to win by just over a second while Blanchette soloed in for third about four minutes behind. To recap the finishing order, it was Anne- Marie, Jean-Ann and then Sophie-Anne.